The present invention provides new and useful concepts in paddlewheel vessel thrusters.
Vessels employing paddlewheels for propulsion have had the ability to reposition the paddlewheel assembly for almost as long as vessels have had paddlewheels.
Generally there are four reasons to enable the paddlewheel to be repositioned; the prime reasons being for trim and steering and lesser reasons being the ability to react if the paddlewheel strikes an object, and the ability to be stowed for storage or repair.
Paddlewheels for propulsion are trim sensitive because they rely on a small arc of the wheel to propel the vessel. An endless line paddlewheel is also trim sensitive because it is still dependent on arcs of wheels to dip the paddles.
Immersing too much of the paddlewheel wastes energy because the paddles are motivating the water in the wrong direction, i.e. down and up instead of the desired horizontal while being dipped.
Until now, generally, a great deal of engineering had been required to fit a vessel with a paddlewheel, there are however some designs where a paddlewheel thruster can be fitted to practically any vessel, but all paddlewheel thrusters had been substantially dependent on the displacement of the vessel and therefore required manual adjustment of the paddlewheel trim when the static displacement of the vessel is changed, i.e. the vessel is loaded or unloaded with passengers, cargo, fuel, etc. . . . further the displacement of a vessel is not static, nor are water conditions. It is believed that no prior art exists that addresses automatic trimming of paddlewheels thru changes in both the static and dynamic displacement of vessels as well as the effect of the dynamic environments seas present.